Shock and Aw Shucks

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Sun Mar 23 16:12:14 PST 2003



> Among the scenes, beamed across the Arab the world by the Qatar-based
> satellite channel, were a child with the back of its head blown off --
> it was unclear if it was a boy or a girl -- and bloodied people being
> treated on the floor of a hospital.
>
> "It's a huge mass of civilians," one angry woman told al-Jazeera,
> standing among the wounded. "It was a massacre." ...
>
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11200-2003Mar22.html>

Horrible. But just to be clear, this isn't shock and awe. This is old fashioned horrible war, the taking of a city.

Which, as I said, is likely to be what most of this war will look like since Shock and Awe has the look of a pipe dream. My comments on it were strictly conditional: IF it works. I don't think it did, I don't think it will. But IF it did, that would be good for Iraqis.

And it wouldn't be bad for the drive for a juster world. That will be determined on other grounds.

Michael



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